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 The National Party Conventions

 


 “The Confusion of Tongues”
  Cartoonist:  Louis M. Glackens
  Source:  Puck
  Date:  June 12, 1912

Click to see a large version of this cartoon...

Click to see a large version of this cartoon

Complete HarpWeek Explanation:
In Genesis, the attempt to build a tower to heaven provoked God to give people different languages so they could not understand each other. This Puck cartoon uses the biblical analogy of the Tower of Babel to depict ideological confusion between Republicans in 1912. The identifiable figures are (left-right): businessman George W. Perkins arguing with James R. Garfield, former interior secretary (1907-1909) and son of President James Garfield; Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, a presidential candidate, standing on his head; magazine publisher Frank Munsey debating with Timothy Woodruff, former New York lieutenant-governor (1897-1902); and Gifford Pinchot, the chief forester fired by President William Howard Taft, making a point to William Barnes Jr., chairman of the New York Republican Party.

Continuing (left-right) from the center foreground: a small Job E. Hedge, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in New York, with both hands raised; President Taft orating atop the “Conservatism” stone, while challenger Theodore Roosevelt leaps and gestures excitedly above the egotistical pillar of “Meism”; gathered around the “Standpatism” stone are (clockwise from left) Senator Albert B. Cummins of Iowa, Congressman Joseph Cannon of Illinois, Vice President James Sherman, Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania, and Senator Elihu Root of New York; wearing a “Vindication” headband is Senator William Lorimer of Illinois, whose election was invalidated on corruption charges in July 1912; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts clutching his robe; Governor Walter R. Stubbs of Kansas shouting; and, Senator Joseph M. Dixon of Montana arguing with Congressman William B. McKinley of Illinois (no relation to the late president, William McKinley).

 

 

 

 
 

 

     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 
     
 

 

 

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